


I Think You'll Like Him

by corrielle



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-22
Updated: 2012-06-22
Packaged: 2017-11-08 08:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/440991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corrielle/pseuds/corrielle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shortly after his coronation, Jaime has some news for Cersei, and Cersei asks Tywin for a favor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Think You'll Like Him

**Author's Note:**

> This is my "Guess I'm King" AU, in which Ned Stark came into the throne room of the Red Keep, told Jaime to get up, and Jaime said, "Nope." (There are some other differences that are still being worked out, but these are the basics.) So, long story short, Jaime is king. I wrote this for the Cersei/Jaime prompt "wedding" over at the lj community gameofships.

Two weeks after the coronation, Jaime came to Cersei's rooms at sunset.  When the door shut behind him, she rushed to him, and he took her hands and kissed her hair, her forehead, her cheek, her lips.  Both of them were still a little giddy with the freedom they now enjoyed.  He was King, now, and who would dare to question him if he wished to spend time with the beloved twin he had not seen since before the rebellion against the Mad King?

"I have news for you," Jaime said at last.  Still holding on to one of her hands, he made his way over to a chair piled with gold and scarlet cushions and fell artlessly into it.

"You are smiling, so it must be good news," Cersei said.  In fact, Jaime looked like he had a secret he could not wait to spring on his unsuspecting listener.  "What is it?"

"Father and I have agreed upon a husband for you."

Her heart went cold.  Since the coronation, their father's favorite topic of conversation had been potential matches for each of them, weighing the status and influence each bride would bring to Jaime, each husband to Cersei.  And she hated it.  But she had thought that it had been nothing more than talk and speculation.  She had thought she would have at least a year, perhaps more before it would be necessary for either of them to marry.

She wrenched her hand away from him.

" _You_ and father agreed?  Who is he, Jaime?  At least tell me the _name_ of that man who will be taking me from you," Cersei demanded.

Jaime did not seem perturbed by her outburst in the least, which made him even more infuriating.  In this, as in all things, he did not worry.  Even when he should.  He was king now, yes, but a marriage to the wrong man could take her from his side again, and she thought they had promised one another that _nothing_ would separate them now that he had the power to make it so.

"I think you'll like him well enough," Jaime said.  "He's from a good family, at least."

"His _name,_ Jaime," Cersei said again.

Her brother acted as if he had not heard her.  "They have a great deal of influence, and not a little money.  And you know how important that is to Father.  As for the man himself…" Jaime shrugged and reached for her hand again, which she did _not_ allow him to take.  "He is very handsome, or so I've heard people say.  And you don't need to worry yourself about having a decrepit husband… he's near your age."

"That is all well and good, but _who is it?_ " she said.  She was growing tired of his secretive smile. Did he want her to guess?

She went to the window and leaned out over the casement.  The city was stretched out before her, and with her back to him, she pretended not to listen.  In fact, her heart was beating fast, and she heard every word he said. 

"He is a fine warrior, as well.  I've heard it said that he may be one of the finest swordsmen in the Seven Kingdoms."  His voice was getting closer, and she knew he was coming to her. "And I believe… that the children you give him will be beautiful indeed."

She felt his hands on her hips, and his lips on her neck, and the pieces fell into place.

" _You,"_ she hissed.  "It's… _you._ " 

Jaime laughed.  "I knew you'd figure it out eventually.  You are _very_ smart, my sister…"

Anger and elation rose within her like twin dragons racing for the sun.  She would be _his_ and no other's.  Somehow, he had told their father, he had gotten Tywin to _agree…_ But he had let her think he was selling her off to another man.  Let her feel all that she loved slipping from her, and he was _laughing._

Cersei turned, quick as a cat, and slapped him as hard as she could. " _That_ was for making me worry."

He kept his head turned to the side long enough for her to see her handprint blossom on his face. When it was full and red, she reached for him, pulled him to her, and whispered, "And this is for the rest," before she kissed him. 

As angry as she was, it was good to kiss him and know that he was the only one who would ever have the right to touch her as he did now, one hand pressed against the small of her back, the other buried in her hair as he stroked the side of her face with his thumb.

Both of them were out of breath, and she leaned against him, and pressed her face into his shoulder.

"I can't believe you _told_ him," Cersei said.  "What did he say?  Was he angry?"

Jaime chuckled.  "You know father as well as I do.  He was _furious."_

"What did he say, exactly?" she asked again.  She hoped that Jaime had not pushed him too far already.  Tywin was their father, yes, but he was also a piece on a game board Jaime hardly knew existed, and he would make as powerful an enemy as he would an ally.

"He said I was a fool, that this was a delicate time, that we needed to make alliances with other houses," Jaime told her.  "So, I told him that we would bind the great houses of Westeros to us some other way.  That in this matter, I will have my way, and I will not be persuaded otherwise. After all, _I_ am king, and not Father.  And I mean to _be_ king.  If he chooses my wife for me, what other decisions might he think are his to make?"

"He can't have liked that," Cersei said.

"He didn't.  I think he nearly ordered me out of his presence before he realized he shouldn't," Jaime said, laughing at the memory.  "I told him I would take my leave, and he told me he would be taking his.  He's taking the Lannister banners and returning to Casterly Rock."  

Cersei sighed.  It would be good to be out from under their father's watchful eye, but the court was like a pit of vipers that Tywin's presence had, for the most part, managed to keep at bay.

"Will he return when he has seen to his business in the Westerlands?" she asked.

"He didn't say," Jaime told her. 

"He must come back," Cersei said.  "You can see that, don't you?  We _need_ Father.  We need his advice, we need his money, and we need his good will."  Despite her best attempts at seriousness, Cersei couldn't help but smile every time she said "we." 

Jaime kissed her on the check.  "I suppose you're right.  Though you can't expect me to beg him to stay." 

"I don't.  In fact, I don't think you _should._   Let him go home, cool his anger.  He will return when we need him.  Before… before the wedding, perhaps."  It was the first time either of them had spoken of _their_ wedding, and they grinned at each other and twined their fingers together.  "He has a son on the throne," Cersei continued, "and I do not think he will let you lose it through neglect, no matter how furious you make him."

Jaime raised an eyebrow.  "Is this your advice as my Queen?" he asked.

"This is my advice as your sister who loves you, and yes… as your queen."  She liked the way that sounded.

"And soon, they shall be one and the same," Jaime said, and he kissed her again, a hard, needy kiss, and Cersei barely had time to shutter the window before he pulled her down onto the bed.

*

Much later, when Jaime was still asleep in her chambers, Cersei rose and dressed.  She chose a gown of Lannister red with lions worked in gold on the sleeves and on the bodice.  She called a maid in to do her hair, and if the girl found it strange that the king was sleeping in his sister's bed, she said nothing about it. 

When she was satisfied, she dismissed the servant and went to find Tywin.  If she was to be queen, she would have peace between her husband and their father.

Her father was in his rooms, sitting at a desk covered with candles and neat stacks of paper, a single cupbearer standing at his elbow with a pitcher of wine.

She stood at the entrance to his study and said, "Father." 

The one word was enough.  Tywin looked up and fixed her with a hard stare.  She knew he was in no mood to talk, but she had to speak to him _now,_ before he left, before she lost her nerve.

"What do you want, Cersei?" he asked.  "If you've come to tell me you're marrying your brother, our _King_ has already been here to inform me." 

"No, Father.  That's not why I'm here," she said. 

"I can't imagine you had anything to do with this fool's idea of his," Tywin said.  "He told me that this… connection between you has existed for many years, but I cannot think that you would have been so foolish as to bring it out into the public eye…"

"No.  This was not my doing.  I never dreamed that Jaime would tell you, much less that he would try to make me his queen."

"But you did not refuse him," Tywin said.  "If you had been smart…"

"No, I did not," Cersei said, cutting him off.  One did _not_ cut Tywin Lannister off. Not if you were his child, not if you were his _king,_ even, if you knew what was good for you.  She forced her face to be serene, her breathing even.  "How could I refuse him?  He is my brother and my king.  And I love him."

"And for this love, you _both_ put his reign in danger when it has only just begun," Tywin said, shaking his head.

Cersei took a few more steps toward him.  That her father was admitting concern about Jaime's reign was a good sign.  "You're only seeing what you've lost, Father.  You're not seeing what you've gained," she told him.   

"And what have I gained?" Tywin asked.  "Please.  Enlighten me."

"I will be a better queen for Jaime than any woman you could have chosen.  I love him more than she would have, and when I give him counsel, I will have only his best interests and the interests of _our_ family in mind.  _My_ loyalties will never be divided between my husband and my House."

"As for this counsel you plan to give him.  Do you believe he will listen to you?"

"I know he will," Cersei said.  "He seemed not to care that you were leaving… until I reminded him that he will need your wisdom in the coming days."

"And he agreed with you?"

"He did, Father."  Cersei folded her hands in front of her and turned toward the window. "And _I_ will have need of you."

"You have your prize already," Tywin said.  "You have my son for a husband.  What more could you need from me?"

"I need you to teach me what you have tried and failed to teach that son of yours.  How to wield power without losing it.  Jaime has learned some of your lessons, yes, but we both know he is not careful enough.  He was not made for the delicate work of politics, and so I _must_ be.  I do not mean to let him fall through his own foolishness, but I know that there is much I _do_ _not know_.  I need you to teach me so that I can guide him in turn."

Tywin looked at his daughter as if seeing her for the first time. Then, he gestured to the chair beside him. 

"Come, sit," he said.  With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the cupbearer, and when the boy had gone, Tywin said, "Pour the wine, and let us begin."

When both of their glasses were full of fragrant Arbor red, he said, "You'll want to handle the announcement of your engagement carefully… too much reliance on the Targaryen tradition will make the people remember the Mad King.  If you _must_ compare yourselves to them, let it be Aegon and his sisters, not their more recent descendents.  You say you love him, and he seems to love you in return.   Use that.  People like a good love story, especially one with long odds.  Let it be known that Jaime would take no woman to wife but you, not out of 'Lannister arrogance,' but out of devotion.  You might even pay musicians to sing of your undying affection in every common room in the city."

"And that will be the truth," Cersei reminded him.

Tywin sipped his wine.  "The truth, under certain circumstances, can be a useful tool," he said. "Now… there is the small matter of placating the families whose sons and daughters no longer have the hope of a royal connection…"

Cersei listened, and she remembered.  She and Jaime would have many things to speak of in the morning.


End file.
